Nokia Executives Believe That Dedicated Devices Could Be Making A Return

Thanks to the efforts of companies like Nokia, Samsung, Huawei and ZTE, smartphones are no longer seen as a device that only the rich can afford. Folks shopping on a budget are now able to get in on the smartphone action, and Intel themselves are trying to break into the emerging market as well. Based on this, one would assume that the feature phone is all but dead, or is it? In an interview with several Nokia executives (via SlashGear), it seems that the feature phone might not be completely dead after all.

Basically during the interview, it was revealed that the three Nokia executives believed that there could be a resurgence in dedicated devices. For those who remember, dedicated devices were like phones released by Sony and Nokia, for example, and highlighted certain features about the phone that were used to market it. For example there were Sony’s Walkman phones which promised superior audio playback quality and controls, and Sony’s Cybershot series of feature phones, and not too long ago Nokia did something similar with the 808 PureView whose main emphasis was on its camera.

According to Marco Ahtisaari, EVP of Design at Nokia, “I think there’ll be room for more and more dedicated devices that do a few things really well again […] And that is slightly a contrarian view, but I think what we’ll see is increasing complexity and ability… you can either shortcut through the environment, but this means also space for dedicated devices that do a few things really well. Yes, a phone, but other functionalities too.” What do you guys think? Could we be seeing the resurgence in such devices in the future?